Some help lowering and stabilizing my PH

EchoEcho

Hello,

Tested my PH after setting my aquarium up last Tuesday, was 7.5, not bad

Tested last night and it is now cloer to 8.0.

I am planning on getting a piece of Driftwood, how much would that lower it?

It is a 29gal
KH and GH or both between 3 and 6 (Soft Water)
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is between 0 and 5 (the test vial ever so slightly changed color... but it did change color!)
Currently there is a small school of Albino X-Ray Tetra's in the tank.

I used a bacteria booster to help cycle the tank (which seems to have worked...) Marc Weiss Bacter Boost.

Any help would be great. Thanks.

fish_4_all

Is it a new tank? If it is then the pH should stabilize over time. Don't get into using any chemicals to change it, it will only make you dependant on them and settingyou up for a crash later.

Do you have any shells, real coral, or rocks in the tank that might have some shells or Calcium carbonate in them?

Filering your water over peat will help lower it and the driftwood will help. The quesiton is why do you want to lower it? Are you planning on keeping something in it after the cycle is done tha needs a lower pH?

EchoEcho

All decorations in the tank are fake (ceramic or plastic)

I haven't used any chemicals to try and lower it, as I read that wasn't good.

I tohught 8.0 was not a good PH for most fish. I am going to have Tetras, Corys, a Clown Pleco and 1 or two other center piece fish (Honey Dwarf, Betta or German Rams)

fish_4_all

First, check the pH of your tap water, both right out of the tap and after it has sat out for 24 hours. Thge pH of your tap water might have changed if there was a lot of rain recently. Mine does a little.

For that variety of fish you are definately right! The pleco will want lower pH as may the other fish. Getting closer to neutral would be a good idea.

The driftwood will help, although you want to make sure that it is a good wood to use. In a 10 gallon tank, I have "heard" that a piece of driftwood can lower the pH over time by as much 0.5 depending on the size of it. A good piece of quality driftwood that has a lot of tanins left could lower it even more but this will "stain" the water brownish.

Peat moss in a media bag in your filter will do the same but make sure to change it out often.